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Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, 24 years old when this album appeared
in 2016, has made a splash with his seemingly effortless technical
mastery and his ability to put across a feeling of suppressed
energy. There are many technical difficulties in these Romantic
showpieces, but Grosvenor lets them roll off his fingers without
raising the temperature much until the end, in the Liszt Tarantella
from the Venezia e Napoli (Venice and Naples) set of Années de
pèlerinage. It's an impressive display of control, said to be
matched by considerable charisma in live performance. The program,
which might have been played a century ago, is almost refreshing
for that reason, but it's not totally coherent: the first three
"Homages" are to Bach, while the last two are not homages to a
person, but to cities, and to a pair of them at that. Still, the
individual pieces work well on their own terms. César Franck's
Prélude, Choral, et Fugue, FWV 21, benefits greatly from
Grosvenor's ability to suggest currents of passion beneath the
surface, and the Mendelssohn set of Six Preludes and Fugues, Op.
35, are sharply characterized and infused with an unusual degree of
contrast for the collection, which often suffers from over-academic
performances. This release showcases a young pianist with the
potential to become a star in the time-honored Romantic virtuoso
mold.

The name "Decca" has its origins in a portable gramophone called the Decca Dulcephone, patented in 1914 by the manufacturers of the instrument, Barnett Samuel and Sons. Invented by Wilfred S. Samuel, the name is the result of the fusion of the word ‘Mecca’ with the initial D of ‘Dulcephone’. The company then renamed itself the ‘Decca Gramophone Company’, and at the same time became known as ‘The Supreme Record Company’. It was bought in 1929 by the former stockbroker Edward Lewis.
In 1939 Decca was the only record label in the United Kingdom, aside from EMI. Within a few years it had become the second biggest label in the world. During the 1930s and 1940s, Decca cou...